Sting Adds Another Chapter To Its Sad Story

February 22, 1988|By Special to The Tribune.

BLOOMINGTON, MINN. — What if there was a soccer team that led most of its games, yet lost more times than it won? And what if most of those leads were by at least two goals? To make things worse, what if that team was one of the best in its division, yet consistently seemed to be lacking an ingredient necessary to put lesser clubs away?

There is such a team. It is the Sting. And the story is starting to get pretty old.

Despite being up by two goals late in the fourth quarter, the Sting wound up losing 6-5 in overtime to the Minnesota Strikers Sunday before 13,564 noisy fans at the Met Center. Alan Willey`s goal 2:38 into sudden death gave the Strikers (22-15), who lead the Major Indoor Soccer League Eastern Division, their team-record ninth straight home victory and the Sting (16-17) its second consecutive loss.

On 12 occasions this season, the Sting has led by at least one goal, only to lose. It has squandered leads of two or more goals eight times.

Sunday`s loss was especially tough because the Sting seemed to outplay Minnesota for much of the contest. Yet defensive lapses and a lack of concentration for the entire match cost the Sting for the second straight match. Friday night in Tacoma, the Sting played one of its best games of the season and led 4-2 with 1:17 left in the fourth quarter, only to allow three Tacoma goals in a 47-second span and lose.

Sting assistant coach Gary Hindley subbed for head man Erich Geyer, who didn`t want to talk with reporters. Hindley said he doesn`t believe Friday`s defeat had a carry-over effect.

``They were more stunned Friday,`` said Hindley. ``Today, they realized it was a war out there.``

After spotting Minnesota a 2-0 lead on goals by John O`Hara and Hector Marinaro, the Sting came back on goals by Batata, Dave MacWilliams and Manny Rojas to lead 3-2 at the half. Rojas` goal was on a penalty kick.

Rojas converted another penalty kick 5:27 into the third quarter, but Willey came back for Minnesota at 8:54. Charlie Fajkus countered for the Sting 14 seconds later, but Marinaro scored his 39th goal of the season before the end of the period.

Steve Kinsey scored the tying goal with 5:03 left in regulation play, and the Sting wound up losing in its 10th sudden-death situation this year. The Sting is 4-6 in overtime matches, 0-4 on the road.

``It`s been a disappointing weekend because of the results, not the way we played,`` said Hindley. ``Their third and fourth goals were failure to clear the ball out of the back properly.``

Hindley agrees that Tuesday night`s game against the league-leading San Diego Sockers will be a real gut check for players and coaches alike.

``The frustration for us is the same as the players,`` he said. ``You search for the answers and try to find the right combinations. We`ve won games and didn`t play as well as we did the last two. It`s hard to come up with answers.``